Engineer presents professional information designed to keep U.S. military and civilian engineers informed of current and emerging developments within their areas of expertise for the purpose of enhancing their professional development.
Issue link: https://engineer.epubxp.com/i/284727
Engineer 17 January –April 2014 T he Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment defnes operational energy (OE) as "the energy and associated systems, infor- mation, and processes required to train, move, and sustain forces and systems for military operations." 1 Managing OE at contingency bases is a challenging task for senior commanders, base camp mayors, and their staffs. They must satisfy competing demands across all areas of an operational environment and base camp functions. Energy management is further complicated by the interdependency among power, water, wastewater, and solid waste, which must be handled carefully under diffcult and dangerous conditions. Moreover, most contingency bases depend on lengthy, hazardous air and ground lines of communication in areas with unimproved ground transportation networks. Under certain conditions—primarily weather-related—the bases can only be resupplied by airdrop. A survey developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineer Research and Development Center, Con- struction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) was distributed to key stakeholders, subject matter experts, and other USACE personnel. Information was also gathered from recent after action reviews, engineer initial impres- sion reports from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, and other technical reports. The results led to specifc recommendations for improvements to all facility life cycle phases and to overall OE management for contingency bases. Survey respondents reiterated the long-recognized fact that a major ineffciency and contributor to excessive fuel consumption at contingency bases is a disproportionate use of ineffcient spot generation. During the early phases of operations, units that initiate and develop base camps A mobile solar light cart provides safety and security at Bagram Airfeld. By Mr. John L. Vavrin and Mr. William T. Brown III EN Vavrin-Brown.1.indd 20 3/12/2014 1:41:40 PM